Wager

Inside the cave, time seemed viscous. Every stroke of Jingtian's Ninth Tentacle imprinted deadly dark-purple trails through the space. He was forging this temporary nest into a lethal trap for his pursuers, one containing the threefold laws of "silence," "wither," and "Soul Venom."

His origin was being rapidly consumed, and tearing pain radiated from his soul. Yet his gaze—or rather, his consciousness—grew brighter and brighter, like poisoned cold stars. His ninety-thousand-year high-level cultivation and profound understanding of the laws of poison were being squeezed to their limits at this moment. Deep within the Poison Source, the Poison Core that had fused the Scorpion Tail Soul Bone, the Deep Sea Demon Whale's Soul Power, and countless experiences of slaughter and devouring was faintly heating up, yearning for... a sacrifice.

"Xiaobai... a hundred thousand years... a Sea God's favored one... the perfect sacrifice." A mad, icy thought coiled around his will.

The feedback brought by the transformation of his poison power showed him another possibility—hunting. Using the environment, traps, patience, and... poison fangs that could kill in a single strike.

I have to prepare the 'bullets' before she gets here. Jingtian hardened his resolve. He stopped expanding the poison array and instead began madly compressing, condensing, and purifying his remaining origin poison power along with the residual essence of the Soul Douluo and Demon Soul Great White Shark he had just devoured.

His goal was to create three Specialized Dan-Devours.

He no longer cared about flashy names. He sought only the utmost precision and power.

The formation of the three Dan-Devours nearly drained Jingtian's origin, already greatly depleted from setting the array. His body trembled faintly, his aura languished, and the rings on his surface dimmed. Yet the ghostly light in his eyes was as sharp as poisoned arrows about to leave the bowstring.

The instant the last Dan-Devour took shape—

"Benefactor! They... they're here!! Three hundred li away! Xiaobai! At least two Shark Kings close to a hundred thousand years old! Three Title Douluo!!" Moyuan's terrified, hurried thought exploded in his mind!

Three hundred li! Xiaobai could arrive in an instant!

Huiban sent a wave of despairing yet resolute intent from the crack in the rocks where he hid.

There was no time!

"Moyuan! Tieshan! Listen to my orders!" Jingtian's thought was like lightning tearing through the darkness. "The plan has changed! Execute Poison Bait!"

"Huiban, immediately detonate the first layer of the Illusory Poison Barrier at the cave entrance and create the illusion that I have escaped. Take Lanxi and use the energy I left behind to move toward the underground river fissure deeper inside the cave. Go as far as you can! Wait for my signal, or never come out!"

"Tieshan! Moyuan! Immediately find the best ambush position at the edge of the Soul-Devouring Undercurrent! I will lure Xiaobai's main force... over there!"

"Your task is to create chaos, scatter the enemy, and give me one chance to snipe Xiaobai!"

"If we win this battle, the Deep Sea changes hands. If we lose..."

There was no need for further words. Every Demon Whale soul trembled, understanding this king-slaying act!

"Tieshan accepts the order! I swear to create an opportunity, even at the cost of my life!"

"Moyuan understands! I will not fail you!"

Huiban sent back a faint but steadfast wave of acknowledgment.

Without hesitation, Jingtian activated the Poison Source. The first composite poison array at the cave entrance—the Illusory Poison Barrier of illusion and inducement—silently activated!

The scene outside the cave distorted on the level of energy. A "phantom" mixed with Jingtian's aura and panicked Soul Power fluctuations rapidly "fled" in the direction opposite the Soul-Devouring Undercurrent, leaving behind clear traces. The cave's own Soul Power was concealed, simulating an abandoned den.

After finishing all this, Jingtian gave Huiban's hiding place one last look. His body abruptly contracted, his aura suppressed to freezing point. He pushed Guixu Assimilation to its limits and, like a drop of poison dissolving into ink, silently slipped from the cave and raced toward a stretch of sea to the side, where Soul Power was chaotic and reefs and whirlpools filled the waters! He needed to "waste" the pursuers' time, test the trap, observe their formation, and widen the distance from the cave.

Less than half a quarter-hour after he left the cave—

"Boom—!"

A pure, vast blue divine light carrying supreme majesty and biting killing intent pierced in from afar like a spear of heavenly punishment, striking precisely at the Illusory Poison Barrier at the cave entrance!

"Sizzle—!"

The Illusory Poison Barrier instantly dissolved and was purified! The triggered poison explosion was forcibly detonated, but most of its power was easily smoothed away and purified by the blue divine light, stirring up only harmless, chaotic ripples of energy.

As the divine light faded, the figures behind it were revealed.

At their head was a figure as white as jade, flowing with a sacred pale-golden radiance: the Demon Soul Great White Shark King—Xiaobai! She floated in the water, her gaze cold and indifferent, as though she had merely brushed away some dust. The aura she emitted was as vast as the sea, as pure as the heavens, and carried the absolute majesty of a superior being, making every lowly creature in these waters instinctively submit.

Slightly behind her floated two somewhat smaller Demon Soul Great White Shark aides, equally majestic in appearance and fierce in aura, both nearly one hundred thousand years old.

Farther behind them were three Title Douluo from Sea God Island—Sea Star Douluo, holding a phantom golden trident; Sea Spear Douluo, wielding a massive bow; and Sea Ghost Douluo, famed for tracking!

"Trifling tricks." Xiaobai's cool voice echoed on the spiritual level, laced with disdain. "Trying to delay us with poison and illusions? As expected of you, a poisonous creature lurking in the gutter. But you cannot escape."

Her gaze swept over the purified poison barrier, then turned toward the direction Jingtian's "phantom" had fled and the direction of the Soul-Devouring Undercurrent. A cold curve rose at the corner of her lips.

"Split into two groups," Xiaobai ordered. "Sea Star, Sea Spear, take a squad of elites and follow the 'escape' traces that poisonous creature deliberately left behind. He may be laying false trails or setting an ambush. Find him, keep him occupied, and send a signal."

"Yes!" Sea Star and Sea Spear accepted the order, leading a squad of five elite Demon Soul Great White Sharks over eighty thousand years old as they pursued Jingtian's "phantom."

"Sea Ghost, you come with me, along with Baiya and Baiji." Xiaobai looked toward the other aide and the two Shark King subordinates. "We are going to the Soul-Devouring Undercurrent. The remnants of chaotic Soul Power are strongest there. That little whale pack of his should have fled in that direction. As for this nest..."

Her eyes returned to the cave entrance. She narrowed them slightly, then decided it was beneath her concern.

"Leave a mark. We will clean it up when we return. Baiya, go inside and take a look. Confirm it, then catch up immediately."

"By your command, my king!" Bloodthirsty light flashed through Baiya's Shark King eyes as he transformed into a silver bolt of lightning and charged into the dark cave.

Xiaobai did not linger. Leading Sea Ghost Douluo, her aide Baiji, and most of the remaining elite shark swarm, she shot toward the Soul-Devouring Undercurrent like a blue divine arrow loosed from a bow, advancing at terrifying speed!

The hunt had begun.

Three hundred li away, Jingtian was concealing himself to the utmost in the complex waters to the side, sensing everything behind him. He received intelligence from Moyuan: Xiaobai had split her forces, and a Shark King close to one hundred thousand years old had entered the cave.

"They split up... one aide entered the cave..." Killing intent and calculation intertwined within Jingtian's icy thoughts.

Excellent. The plan to lure the enemy apart had succeeded. An opportunity to eliminate an isolated powerful enemy had been delivered right to him.

"The game has begun, Xiaobai."

Jingtian no longer looked back, nor did he concern himself with the Shark King that had entered the cave. He trusted Huiban, and he trusted his poison array even more. His massive body began to accelerate stealthily along the most concealed and efficient route toward the Soul-Devouring Undercurrent. He had to meet up with Tieshan and Moyuan before Xiaobai arrived and set the final killing trap.

At this moment, inside the cave.

Baiya's huge body swam in, the might of a Shark King unleashed without restraint. His cold compound eyes swept over the empty cave as he sensed the residual Soul Power.

Then he saw the narrow fissure deep within the cave, the entrance leading to the underground river.

He also "smelled" the faint scent drifting from deep within that fissure—the frantic... bloody scent of a Deep Sea Demon Whale.

A cruel, contemptuous grin surfaced in his consciousness.

"Found you, little rat."

Without further hesitation, he flashed with silver light and shot into the fissure like lightning!